Family of man killed in Salmon River boating accident wants help searching for his body – East Idaho News

CHALLIS – The search continues for the physique of a person who drowned in a boating accident on the center fork of the Salmon River almost two weeks in the past.

Final Sunday, the Custer County Sheriff’s Workplace reported Robert Grey, 63, from Mills Creek, Washington was floating the center fork close to Boundary Creek on Might 24 when his raft hit a log jam and threw him into the water.

Officers say the accident occurred round 2:30 p.m. The water at the moment was operating about 5 ft excessive and flowing at a temperature of 40 levels.

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Grey was reportedly drained and chilly. He was unable to get himself out of the river and was carried away by the swift present.

Custer County Search and Rescue initially discovered Grey’s physique round midday on Might 25 submerged in a log jam beneath Boundary Creek. His physique was by no means recovered on account of dangerously excessive water ranges.

Since then, the household stories Grey’s physique has floated 40 miles downstream. They’ve been working with search and rescue groups to seek out and retrieve the physique, which hasn’t been profitable, as of Friday afternoon.

“Yesterday, we flew the center fork from Dagger Falls all the way in which to Loon Creek. That’s 50 miles of river trying to find any signal of him. We hovered over the unique log jam he was trapped underneath, which has modified fairly a bit. We’ve seen no signal of him,” Gary Gadwa, the incident commander for Sawtooth Search and Rescue, instructed EastIdahoNews.com simply earlier than 5 p.m. Friday.

The Search and Rescue staff doesn’t have entry to a helicopter each day, which suggests frequent search efforts are extremely unlikely. As of Friday afternoon, Gadwa says the county has already exhausted its annual price range within the seek for Grey’s physique and there’s no one actively looking out the river proper now.

“We instructed the household when the water ranges drop some, we will likely be again in there once more,” Gadwa says. “We’re considering taking a cadaver canine offshore from the place the log jam is to see if the cadaver canine can choose up any scent.”

Although the Grey household is grateful to the sheriff’s workplace, search and rescue groups and the U.S. Forest Service for his or her efforts, they launched a GoFundMe earlier this week to lift funds for a non-public helicopter firm to do extra frequent surveillance.

“Our biggest concern is that Dad’s physique will float farther down the river and turn into misplaced earlier than it’s retrieved,” the household writes on the GoFundMe web page. “Dropping our Dad is a devastating loss for our household and understanding that his physique remains to be within the water is much more traumatizing.”

Gadwa says Thursday’s search was funded fully by the Grey household.

EastIdahoNews.com reached out to the household for additional remark. They defined in an e-mail that officers have instructed them boaters and hikers within the space are their finest useful resource.

“We hope to enlist the assistance of the Center Fork and Salmon River boating and mountaineering communities to maintain a watch out for any signal of Robert, his white helmet, his crimson life jacket, or his black wetsuit,” a member of the family writes.

Anybody who occurs to seek out Grey’s physique or any of these things can name the Custer County Sheriff’s Workplace at (208) 879-2232. Footage could be texted to (208) 993-9391. The household could be contacted via e-mail by way of recoverourdad@gmail.com.